Dem fight on Israel may help the GOP

Progressive activists have big plans for this summer’s Democratic convention in Chicago. Outside the hall, they plan disruptive — and destructive — protests; inside the hall, they are going to fight for anti-Israel provisions in the 2024 Democratic platform.

These pro-Palestinian activists will be looking for language that will make future aid to Israel conditional, curtail Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza, and push Israel into a two-state solution. This effort will initiate two political developments worth watching. The first is the potential for a bitter floor fight at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. The second is the possibility that a harsh stance on Israel will draw the sharpest lines of difference between Democrats and Republicans on Israel in decades.

Israel has long been a battleground in party platform fights. In the 1940s, Jewish leaders sought Democratic support for a Jewish state in what was then known as Palestine. Democratic President Franklin Roosevelt was unpersuaded. In response, Zionists, prompted by Benzion Netanyahu (father of the current Israeli prime minister), went to the Republicans to seek favorable platform language. The Republicans agreed and the Democrats followed suit.

This back and forth established a longstanding paradigm where both party platforms had mostly positive language regarding Israel. As Tablet’s Armin Rosen described it, for decades, “the official Republican and Democratic positions on Israel and the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict were largely identical.”

In 2012, this began to change. The initial draft of the Democratic platform that year did not acknowledge Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, which had long been a point of bipartisan agreement. Platform Chair Ted Strickland, prompted by the Obama campaign, proposed language to fix the apparent oversight, saying “President Obama recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and our party’s platform should as well.”

Democratic National Committee Chairman Antonio Villaraigosa tried to get the Jerusalem language adopted by voice vote, which required a two-thirds majority. For listeners at home, the Democrats in the convention hall clearly opposed the pro-Israel language. Multiple attempts were made to pass it.

Finally, Villaraigosa just ignored the objectors, saying, “In the opinion of the chair, two-thirds have voted in the affirmative. The motion is adopted, and the platform has been amended as shown on the screen. Thank you very much.” A clear majority of the Democratic delegates booed vociferously. But because of Villaraigosa’s chutzpah, there was nothing they could do.

In 2016, the differences between the parties on Israel actually showed up on the page. Trump ally David Friedman recalled that he worked to create a GOP platform that “supported recognition of Jerusalem and made no mention of a two-state solution.” Before that, both parties advocated a two-state solution.

The GOP move foreshadowed a Trump administration that took a new and more pro-Israel approach to things. During the Trump years, Friedman served as America’s ambassador to Israel and the U.S. both moved its embassy to Jerusalem and recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

The GOP blew a chance to establish another contrast with the Democrats on Israel in 2020. In part because of the COVID crisis but also because of a desire by the Trump team to simplify the platform. The GOP’s 2020 platform was barebones, an RNC-adopted 323-word “resolution” stating that “the Republican Party has and will continue to enthusiastically support the president’s America-first agenda.” The short document lacked the room to get into the details of GOP support for Israel, or any other policy.

This sets the stage for 2024. The Republicans have signaled an interest in — but not committed to — returning to a more traditional platform again. If they do so, it will likely include very pro-Israel language, reflecting the support for Israel that is one of the few unifying policy positions among Republicans these days.

Democrats, however, are in a very different place. Their internal fight on Israel is already ugly, dogging the president and other elected leaders wherever they go. The floor fight could get particularly nasty, highlighting the fact that the Democrats’ progressive base is far more critical of Israel than the bulk of the American electorate.

Such a battle could then present a huge opportunity for the Republicans to create a platform that contrasts themselves with Democrats, unites their party, and leverages an issue that has the strong support of the American people. Republicans would be wise to seize the opportunity that the Democrats are offering them.

Troy is a presidential historian and senior fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center. He is the author of five books on the presidency, including the forthcoming “The Power and the Money: Epic Clashes Between Commanders in Chief and Titans of Industry.”